Died On This Date (July 15, 2010) Hank Cochran / Country Music Legend
themusicsover Garland “Hank” Cochran
August 2, 1935 – July 15, 2010
Hank Cochran was a successful country singer as well as one of the genre’s most respected songwriters. Besides charting several singles himself as a performer, Cochran penned countless hits as performed by the likes of Elvis Presley, Patsy Cline, Norah Jones, George Strait, Ella Fitzgerald, George Jones, Brad Paisley, Elvis Costello, and Merle Haggard, to name a few. After a rough childhood in and out of orphanages, Cochran migrated to California while still a teenager to work in the fields. It was there that he met Eddie Cochran and formed the Cochran Brothers even though they weren’t related. By his mid ’20s, he was living and writing in Nashville. Teaming up with Harlan Howard, the pair wrote “I Fall To Pieces” which became a #1 hit for Patsy Cline in 1960. While working for a publishing company, Cochran reportedly helped Willie Nelson get signed on, thus giving Nelson’s early career a significant boost. Cochran’s final years were riddled with significant health issues. In 2008, he had cancerous tumors removed from his lymph node and pancreas, and in early 2010, he had an aortic aneurysm. Hank Cochran was 74 when he passed away on July 15, 2010. Actual cause of death was not immediately released.
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